Step out of Line
by NewPaladin
Summary: Modern AU. Things change for Mirania when she recruits a new member, an ex-soldier named Asthar, for her environmentalist organisation, "Protect Lazulis". A Slice of Life story about the relationship between the activist and the veteran.


Yass, the first three scenes of the Last Story AU! Weeeee. I've come to love it so fucking much. 3 Postings will probably be random. At the moment, I'm very inspired, but that doesn't mean much for me. 8D However, I have generally planned out how this thing will go and end. And yes, there will be Asthar/Mirania eventually. As always, the first scene always sound awkward: beginnings are always the hardest. Well, enjoy 3

* * *

"I can't believe you managed to talk me into this," Yurick mumbled under his breath. Zael smiled at him and handed a passing couple a brochure.

"Come on, it's not that bad. And it's for a good cause." Yurick continued to grumble, glaring at the passer-bys. "Stop scaring them off." Zael nudged him in the side with his elbow. "Mirania spent much time on making these." He waved the brochures in front of Yurick's face, who slapped them away. Zael shrugged, smiling, and walked over to a woman looking over their little booth.

Yurick sighed, annoyed. He was tempted to sneak away; he had better things to do than handing out pamphlets about 'Saving our Environment'.

"Yurick, where's your smile?"

He startled and whirled around. "Mirania, don't sneak up on me!" He crossed his arms and glared at her.

She smiled in return and tilted her head to the side. "It's such a nice, sunny day. How can you be so crotchety?"

Yurick only sighed and shook his head; she wouldn't understand that some people didn't like bothering unsuspecting passer-bys about protection of the environment. "How long do I have to stay?"

"Until dinner," Mirania answered instantly. He groaned loudly. Suddenly, though, Yurick had an idea.

"Can I buy myself free?" Mirania blinked surprised. "How about a big box of fried noodles? Or a pizza? Ice cream?"

Mirania licked her lips. "Hm, you're a tough negotiator." Yurick smirked. "Okay, bring me all of them and I'll let you go."

"All three?" Yurick asked incredulously. She nodded. Groaning loudly again, he threw his hands in the air. "Alright, alright." He pushed his pamphlets into her hands and walked away.

Mirania sighed, smiling. Her stomach had been growling for at least an hour now. Thank the heavens for Yurick's impatience. Sorting the brochures in her hand, she looked around for someone to approach.

The square she had picked out for her small campaign was oddly deserted for a Saturday. Maybe most people were using the good weather for an outing in the countryside. Mirania frowned; how could they be so ignorant? How could they not see how they were destroying the forest they loved to hike in or the sea they loved swimming in with their ignorance?

She shook her head. She needed to be more positive; people were reacting better when she was friendly and happy. After a moment, she saw a lone man sitting on one of the benches beneath the row of trees separating the square from the street. He was leaning forward, resting his elbows on his knees and his face in his hands.

Mirania debated with herself for a moment if she should approach that man since it didn't seem like he was in the mood to talk about environmentalism. But on the other hand, maybe that would distract him. She figured that there was probably no harm in trying it. Putting on a warm smile, she walked over.

When she was almost standing next to him, she saw that he was older than she had initially thought – maybe in his early forties. The man was obviously well-trained, maybe a professional athlete; a boxer or something like that. He had shoulder-length, brown hair with short bangs.

"Excuse me?" Mirania asked friendly. The man raised his head slowly so that he was resting his chin on his hands. For a moment, Mirania was startled by his very light brown eyes and the scars on his face. "May I hand you a brochure about our organisation, 'Protect Lazulis'? We're fighting against the pollution and destruction of our environment."

The man dropped his gaze to the brochure she was holding out for him. After a moment, he took it and looked over the first page.

"The Arganan Enterprise?" the man asked. He had a rather dark, scratchy voice.

"Yes," Mirania said, nodding, "they're the newest in a long line of businesses who use irresponsible and unethical ways of disposing their industrial waste. I'm planning a protest in front of their main office in two days."

"This is your organisation?" The man straightened and looked up at her, directly in her eyes. Mirania nodded.

"Yes."

"That's impressive. You seem very young."

Mirania couldn't help but smile proudly. "Thank you, but this shouldn't be impressive. We should do what we can to protect our environment." The man nodded, also smiling now.

"That's true." He was silent for a few seconds. "I think I'll come."

"Truly?" Mirania exclaimed happily and also a bit surprised; he was the first today to say that.

"Yes," the man said and nodded. "Maybe I'll also bring the son of a friend if I can convince him. The more people, the better." Mirania could only nod in agreement. She was so happy; today's action was a success!

The man stood up, patted some dirt off his trousers and then smiled at Mirania again. "Good luck with your action here. I'll see you in two days then."

"Yes, see you there."

He threw a quick look on the back of the pamphlet. "Miss Mirania?"

"Yes."

"Goodbye, Miss Mirania." He inclined his head to her and then turned to leave. Mirania grinned broadly, whirling around on her heels, and walked back to the booth where Zael was trying to pin their brochures down to keep them from being blown away. She couldn't wait to tell him of her success.

###

Mirania was elated: twenty people had come to her protest. Nine people who already were members of her group – slightly unwilling members were still members – and the rest were newcomers. It was unbelievable. The red-headed girl Mirania had had a long conversation with two days ago had even brought her sister, her father and the son of their neighbours. They seemed to view this as a sort of family outing. Mirania was happy that they could have fun and work for a better world.

The lonely man had also come and brought a white-haired young man with him. The young man didn't seem to be happy about being here and stayed back. While he didn't seem to like Yurick, he had no problem manning the booth with him; very few people stopped there to get information. That made Mirania sad and a bit angry, but she didn't want to force anybody. She sighed and concentrated more on handing out her brochures again. She could think about this stuff later.

The protest went well; half of the group were walking around with their big signs – Mirania had made all of them herself – and the other handed out information. They were doing good. Especially the man who Mirania still thought was a boxer; he seemed to know much about alternative waste disposal and governmental regulations. He was eloquent and managed to easily engage people in conversation and almost all of those people walked away with a brochure and a smile on their faces.

Sometime during noon they made a short pause for lunch. Mirania used the opportunity to walk over to the man – while stuffing her face with pizza.

"Hello." The man was sitting on the ground, leaning against the Arganan Enterprise building. He was also eating a slice of pizza.

"Miss Mirania," he said and smiled in greeting.

Mirania flopped down next to him and quickly finished her fourth pizza slice. "Mirania is enough. And I never asked for your name."

"Asthar," he answered simply.

"Ah, I never heard that name before. What do you do?" she continued and took another bite of her pizza.

"When I'm not protesting?" Asthar hesitated. "Nothing, at the moment." He turned away from her, looking straight ahead.

"Oh." Mirania dropped her gaze.

"It's nothing bad," he said, though the tone of his voice suggested otherwise. "I just couldn't continue my job."

"What did you do?"

"I was a soldier."

"Ooh…"

"Yes. Things happened and I disagreed with decisions my superiors had made."

"I understand." Mirania nibbled on her pizza. While Asthar claimed that everything was alright, she didn't have the feeling that was true. He didn't look like someone who had found closure.

"Well, now I have time for more important matters." Asthar smiled broadly and his whole demeanour was happy again. Mirania frowned, but ultimately decided that it wasn't really her business. She barely knew him.

"I'm happy you're helping us."

"Thank you." Asthar's eyes seemed to shine and Mirania found that she liked him.

###

The building Asthar lived in was utterly unremarkable. Mirania wasn't sure what she had expected – certainly nothing extravagant – but the plain walls and the ugly balconies still seemed unfitting. Somehow he had seemed like a person who would care about living in a neat place, just as he was always well-groomed.

She shrugged mentally. "Come on," she said over her shoulder to Zael, who was struggling with the heavier one of their boxes. Mirania was carrying the light one with the t-shirts since Zael had insisted on taking the heavy one so it was his own fault.

Mirania deftly entered the building and called the elevator. Zael would appreciate it: Asthar's apartment was on the fifth floor. As soon as Zael caught up to her and they entered the elevator, he set down the box. He took a deep breath. "It's just thin paper. How can it be so heavy?"

Mirania chuckled. After a few seconds, they heard a 'ping' and the elevator door opened. Mirania stepped out of it and looked around. Asthar had said it was the door on their right and there was only one. There was no name on the door or next to it, which Mirania found odd. She knocked.

After a moment, Asthar opened the door and immediately smiled at them. "Come in," he said and stepped to the side.

"Thank you," Mirania answered.

"Just go through." Mirania walked through a short hallway which opened up into the living-room. She hesitated; it was almost empty. But it obviously wasn't because of an spartan style: there was an old couch that looked like it could've belonged to a previous tenant and several carton boxes in a corner. "Turn left." Asthar was suddenly behind her; he gestured down another short hallway. Mirania forced a smile and followed his directions. Hadn't he said that he'd been living here for three months?

Three doors were branching off that hallway. "Straight ahead," Asthar called to her. She carefully opened the door. This room was even more empty than the living-room. There was only one metal cupboard where some books were carelessly stacked. "Just put it anywhere."

Zael pushed past Mirania and let his box just fall to the floor with a loud thud. Zael sighed in relief and shoved the box against the wall. Mirania shook her head with a smile and placed her carton on Zael's. Then she turned to Asthar, who was standing in the door.

"Thank you for letting us store our brochures here."

Asthar shook his head. "It's no problem. I have enough space."

"Yeah, I see that," Mirania answered lowly. Asthar didn't react.

"Yurick has finally snapped," Zael said, laughing. "He threatened to throw us out if we don't get rid of Mirania's stuff. Says it distracts him."

"I've heard that rent is expensive in this city," Asthar said with a frown. "Especially for students." Both Zael and Mirania nodded. "Oh, that reminds me." He smiled again. "Do you want to take home some pasta? I made noodles yesterday for a friend but I went overboard."

"Home-made?" Mirania asked, her voice laced with awe. Asthar frowned lightly and nodded. Mirania sighed with reverence. "Yes please." Zael laughed at her; Asthar threw a questioning glance at him.

"She loves food."

"Hm, I thought so, considering how you wolf down your pizza." He smiled friendly and jerked his head in direction of the hallway. "Come." He led them into the kitchen.

Mirania hesitated in the doorway; in contrast to the rest of the apartment, the kitchen was furnished with love. The appliances were all new, the cupboards seemingly just recently painted in a bright blue, and pots with fresh herbs were lining the window sill. The counters were so clean they looked polished and the three chairs at the kitchen counter seemed to be new as well.

Asthar pulled out two ziplock bags from a tall cupboard. "They're dried and won't take long. Three to four minutes in hot water." He placed the bags on the kitchen counter.

"Wow, the kitchen is huge," Zael said, looking around. "Our kitchen is maybe a third of this. And thank you." He grabbed one of the bags.

"Thanks. I love cooking and you need a good kitchen for it."

"I love you," Mirania sighed. Asthar startled lightly – Zael just laughed. Mirania was staring at Asthar with wide, shining eyes. After a moment, Asthar cracked a smile.

"I don't feel you appreciate _me_ at all. Am I just a cook for you?" Mirania also started to laugh.

"I would love to eat something you made," she said after their laughter died down.

"Ah, that'll surely happen. I always make to much." Mirania wasn't sure but she thought Asthar sounded strangely sad.

"As poor students, we welcome that offer," Zael said in her stead. "And… Asthar?"

"Hm?"

"Mirania told me that you were a soldier." Asthar seemed to freeze for a second – at least Mirania thought so – but then acted normally again and leaned on the kitchen counter.

"I was."

"Did you also learn hand-to-hand combat?"

"Some."

"Can you teach me a few tricks?" Zael asked eagerly. "Dagran and I were finally booked on Friday. The job's next weekend and since we're going to accompany someone to a club, I wanted to refresh my hand-to-hand skills."

"You're budding bodyguards, aren't you?" Zael nodded. Asthar hm-ed lowly and ran a hand over his beard. "Well, I don't know if anything I learned would help you, but we can try." He smiled at Zael.

Zael grinned broadly. "Thank you."

"Zael, I think we need to leave soon." Mirania threw a short glance at her watch. "Syrenne and Lowell are waiting for us."

"Oh, yeah, sure."

"Don't forget the noodles," Asthar said. Mirania grabbed her bag and had to force herself to not press them against her chest. She couldn't wait to eat them. "And here's something else for you." Mirania looked up curiously. Asthar opened the fridge and took something out. "My friend's wife makes great Nikuman and I tried out her recipe yesterday." He handed both Zael and Mirania one dumpling respectively.

Mirania immediately took a big bite. Perfectly balanced spices and juicy meat caressed Mirania's tongue and she moaned happily. "Delicious," she said and took another bite.

Asthar laughed. "Shall I pack you some for the way home?"

"I think so," Zael answered in Mirania's stead because she was already wolfing down the rest of the dumpling.

When they finally left Asthar's apartment, their arms were again full with boxes.


End file.
